Living on a dairy farm

Living on a dairy farm

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about relationships between living and non-living things on a dairy farm.

Question Change answer

a)  A drawing of a dairy farm has been started for you. What other living and non living things might you find on this dairy farm?
Draw and label as many ideas as you can think of to add to the drawing below.

Question 1Change answer

b)  A relationship is a connection between 2 things. An example of a relationship in the picture could be: The cow eats the grass.
From your picture describe a relationship between two things on the dairy farm.

Question 1Change answer

c)  Describe some ways in which human activity can change relationships in and around the farm.
Task administration: 
This task can be completed with pencil and paper or by drawing online.
Copyright: 
Graphic: copyright NZCER.
Level:
4
Curriculum info: 
Science, Participating and contributing, Living World
Keywords: 
ecology, interdependence, relationships, farms
Description of task: 
Task: Complete a drawing of things found on a dairy farm, and describe relationships between them. Assessment focus: interdependence in a dairy farm environment.
Curriculum Links: 
Science capabilities
The capabilities focus is brought about by the conversations you have and the questions you ask.
 
Capability: Engage with science
This resource provides opportunities to discuss the direct impact to organisms when there is a change to their environment.
 
 
Capabilitiy: Use evidence
This resource provides opportunities to discuss using logical reasoning and developing science understandings to present science ideas about food chains and/or food webs.
Science capabilities: 
Engage with science, Use evidence
Answers/responses: 
a) Check for the following points.

  • Are there plants and animals?
  • Are there living and non living elements?
  • Are there elements related to human activity?
  • If the students have been studying a particular farm are the elements relevant to that area?
  • Do students include any systems that may impact on the farm, e.g., elements of the water cycle/weather?
b) Check that the relationship described is correct. For example, are the descriptions of feeding relationships accurate?
c)
Can accurately describe an element that may be affected by a human action. This may be at 1 of 2 levels:
  • Can accurately describe a simple cause and effect relationship.
  • Can describe a more complex cause and effect relationship involving a chain of events.
  For more details go to Thinking about systems. 
Diagnostic and formative information: 

NOTE: This resource was designed to provide an alternative context for exploring interactions in an ecosystem, and has not been trialled with students.

Go to What lives in our waterways? for diagnostic and formative information relating to the waterways (which was the context of the original resource) as a guide for what to look for.
Next steps: 
Refer to:

Summary of possible elements to explore

  • The creek and what lives in it
  • Pasture
  • Soil and what lives in it
  • Change to land contours caused by building/fencing
  • Erosion
  • Run off from cowshed/cows defecating in creek
  • Removal of natural cover e.g., native plants
  • Topdressing
  • Draining wetlands
  • Irrigation
  • Global warming/ greenhouse gases (methane from cows)

The games in the following resources provide models that can be adapted to address relationships in the garden:

Alpha 117, New Zealand streams and rivers summarises some of the impacts of dairying on our water. This resource can be purchased from the Royal Society or downloaded from http://www.rsnz.org/education/alpha/
Download a poster, Cows in Creeks http://icm.landcareresearch.co.nz/science_themes/freshwater/cows_in_cree...
For information on soil, go to http://soils.gsfc.nasa.gov/soilfert/npk.htm. This resource is aimed at secondary students, but may be useful for teacher background material.
For information about climate change go to www.4million.org.nz/climatechange/.